SpiroFlo looks at elementary kids in California who want Crayola to take back and recycle their used markers.
Although it seems like many have gotten the memo to not use kids to heavily push their agenda, the hardcore green crowd still seems set on convincing families from the youngest on up. So when I came across this story about a “Green Team” of students from Sun Valley elementary school in San Rafael, California, petitioning Crayola to take back and recycle used markers, it was impossible not to hear the grown up agenda put into the kids’ mouths.
According to the online petition, the kids are “asking Crayola to make sure these markers don’t end up in our landfills, incinerators and oceans.”
Now you tell me, when was the last time you heard an elementary kid casually throw around the term “incinerators”? What I can believe is many of the kids saying that they like markers, but they don’t like the idea of hurting Earth.
Although the kids are (as of this date) close to nailing their goal of 75,000 signatures, according to MSNBC, Crayola has already stated that it is unlikely to change:
Crayola acknowledged the good intentions but said that, for now at least, there’s no practical way to take back and recycle entire markers.
“We value and encourage children to share their ideas and appreciate the suggestion that the students of Sun Valley brought to our attention,” Crayola spokeswoman Stacy Gabrielle told msnbc.com. “At this time, we do not have the facilities or a process that will enable us to offer a take back program.”
In describing Crayola’s environmental initiatives, Gabrielle did note that the caps on each marker can be recycled at centers that take polypropylene, one of the least recyclable plastics.
Inevitably, there is actually a legitimate issue buried beneath the kid manipulation tactics: Crayola makes 500 million markers each year — enough to circle (and perhaps doodle) the earth three times over. That’s an awful lot of waste from a product that is only partially recyclable as is.
I still don’t see this elementary school Green Team boycotting Crayola any time soon. Maybe by the time they get to middle school, Xcel Energy will have stopped exaggerating their savings numbers in their LivingWise kit, too, but I’m not holding my breath.
As for the Crayola issue, here’s the students video (I’ll admit my jealousy over the one girl’s birthday hat):
* * *
Colin McKay Miller is the Marketing Manager for the SpiroFlo Holdings group of companies:
-SpiroFlo for residential hot water savings (delivered 35% faster with up to a 5% volume savings on every hot water outlet in the home) and industrial water purification (biofilm removal).
-Vortex Tools for extending the life of oil and gas wells (recovering up to 10 times more NGLs, reducing flowback startup times, replacing VRUs, eliminating paraffin and freezing in winter, etc.).
-Ecotech for cost-effective non-thermal drying (for biosolids, sugar beets, etc.) and safe movement of materials (including potash and soda ash).
We appreciate you taking notice of this petition, but you underestimate children. Would you be open to meeting some of these kids this fall when they return to school? Most kids instinctively understand the importance of protecting earth and they want to help. They want to be green, but sometimes they need a little help. Too many adults for too long have put protecting earth off. It is time we start listening to our younger people who have a bigger stake in a future where earth isn’t degraded. We love Crayola and have no intension of boycotting anything. Crayola cares about being green and that’s why were are asking them for help.
Thanks for your comment, Land.
As far as underestimating kids goes, it’s not so much that as much as I don’t underestimate adults with agendas. Kids reflect and focus on what they’re taught to focus on (especially in the long term). Otherwise it’d be “Let’s not hurt Earth” and then on to the next thing — no petition to follow. Without some level of message massaging and intervention from adults, this wouldn’t have gone as far as it has. I think it’s okay to admit that.
In the end, I agree with what they’re going for, but I won’t pretend like it’s purely kid powered.
As far as meeting kids goes, if I lived in California, it’d make sense, although there are (of course) Green Team kids in Colorado, too.
Thanks for the reply. Have we implied that this is purely kid powered? They have had a guide, but they have been the machine. I think this comes out in this slide show and in the SF Chronicle article. The link to this slide show appears at the bottom of the “About This Petition” letter. Here’s the link:
Here’s the chronicle link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/30/BAHV1OMM0M.DTL
Thanks for the feedback. It is always good to know how we are landing out there for people.
[...] surprising, but Campbell’s and Crayola stand out (especially given the latter’s seeming commitment to not recycling). I also have an image of a scalding sea of melted crayons and exploding soup cans stuck in my [...]